


Patience is a Virtue

by Echosong



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, How Do I Tag, i havent written fanfiction since high school let alone post it oh god
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24037804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Echosong/pseuds/Echosong
Summary: It was something Byleth observed every tea time; Claude hates waiting for his tea to cool.In which Claude constantly burns his tongue on tea.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 47





	Patience is a Virtue

The first time Byleth saw Claude burn his tongue on tea she nearly missed it.

Classes had ended for the day an hour prior, and she had been looking forward to this session. The day was mostly clear with a few wispy clouds in the sky, and a cool gentle breeze blew comfortably on her skin as Byleth meticulously set the table. A perfect day for tea. The snacks from the kitchens were carefully arranged and she had just finished pouring the boiling water into the prepared teapot when she heard the telltale sound of someone trotting up to her. Her eyes glanced up at the newcomer as he stopped near the table.

"Oh, I'm sorry... Did I make you wait? I ran as fast as I could!" Claude apologized with a lighthearted wink. His already unruly hair was slightly more tousled than normal, indicating he was telling the truth and had hurried to find her. He had seemed rather pleasantly surprised when she asked him to have tea with her in the courtyard earlier that morning, though he still accepted with an easy smile. Ever the charmer, he even pulled out her chair for her to sit. His arm gestured towards her seat with a slightly exaggerated flourish as he shot her a grin. The action earned him a slow blink from Byleth as she sat down in the offered seat. Claude gave a light huff of disappointment at the lack of reaction though a small smile did not leave his lips as he seated himself opposite to her.

While his smile may not have been entirely genuine, the curiosity shining in his eyes surely was.

"I just finished setting up, I wasn't waiting long," Byleth assured mildly as she reached across the table to pour them both fresh cups of tea. She had been trying to spend time getting to know each of her students and, out of all the rowdy Golden Deer, Claude von Riegan was an interesting one. She was comfortable enough around Claude's easygoing attitude, but she had noticed he tended to skillfully weave a conversation to gain information. Claude knew how to pull seemingly insignificant little tidbits of information from someone and potentially utilize it for a future scheme or two. It was interesting to observe his careful patience. 

"I hope you're alright with Almyran Pine Needles. I haven't tried it before and was curious," Byleth said setting the teapot aside. He hid it well, but there was a gleam in his eyes as they seemed to brighten when she mentioned her choice of tea. 

"Really now? I think it smells lovely," Claude said, eyes shining, as he tried not to seem overly pleased in picking up his cup and inhaling some of the rising steam.

Byleth closed her eyes for a moment as she appreciated the earthy scent of the tea. She opened her eyes to glance at Claude right as he began to take a sip of tea...only to watch him jerk away slightly from his cup with widened eyes before attempting to take a much more careful sip. He still winced slightly.

Pretending to miss Claude's small mishap, Byleth blew lightly over the wafting steam before sipping at her tea. Ah, hot enough to be scalding, but just cool enough to appreciate the flavor of the tea blend. 

“So, I overheard that Hilda managed to rope Ignatz into performing her chores again,” Byleth began.

The conversation continued casually as they bantered back and forth from battle strategies to mundane things like what games the children from the market had been playing earlier that week. Topics jumped around and tea in their cups had finally cooled enough to not burn.

After several minutes of chatting, Byleth moved to pick up the teapot to refill their finally empty cups.

“By the way, they’ve discovered a new kind of poison mushroom. When you eat it, your body exudes a mysterious steam! Um, or so I hear…”

A sharp huff of amusement left Byleth’s lips as Claude lightly fumbled over his words. “Did they really now?”

Claude’s answering smile was much more genuine than before as he lifted his refilled cup in a mock toast. “Well, having a new discovery like this proves that there is still much to be learned about the world,” he said brightly before bringing the cup to his lips and taking a sip from the refilled teacup. “Nngah-ow!”

Watching Claude sputter around the hot beverage made Byleth let out an undignified snort.

“Careful. Tea is hot.”

“Jeez. Thanks for the sage wisdom, Teach,” Claude said as he recovered, fighting down the creeping blush of heat he felt rising to his cheeks. “I wasn’t expecting it to still be that hot. I think I just burned my tongue.”

“I was out in the market when Lorenz recommended this tea set to me. This set is supposed to retain heat very well,” Byleth said before taking a large sip of tea. Definitely still piping hot and money well spent on a good tea set.

“How are you drinking this without batting an eye?” Claude asked incredulously. He hesitated for a moment to stare at the steaming tea and bravely dared another sip…only to flinch again at the contact and poke the tip of his burned tongue between his lips. “Yep, I am not trying that again.”

“You knew it was hot. Why would you try again when you just finished burning yourself a second ago?” Byleth interrogated, thoroughly entertained.

“Having to wait to enjoy a good cup of tea because it’s too hot is simply a crime,” he attempted to reason weakly.

She stared Claude directly in the eye as she took another generous sip. His miffed expression was completely worth the discomfort of the still slightly too hot tea.

“And now I'm a little torn on being offended or impressed.”

It was now Byleth’s turn to smirk. “Do you have a cat’s tongue, perhaps?”

“I’d rather call it my body’s way of telling me drinking liquid fire hurts,” Claude whined glancing at the offending tea as if mentally willing the drink to cool faster.

“Whatever you say.”

And thus Byleth learned that Claude von Riegan hated waiting on tea to cool.

**Author's Note:**

> Since I'm a raging dumpster fire on a good day please tell me if I made any weird grammatical errors! I'm a terribly slow writer so I'll update the next few parts eventually...
> 
> I haven't written fanfiction in literally almost a decade.


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